Overview

A practical guide to building and sustaining healthy relationships with someone experiencing symptoms of Alzheimer's or another dementia

Dementia is an illness that causes no physical pain. But just ask anyone who cares about someone with Alzheimer's or another dementia if their heart isn't aching. The pain in dementia comes from feeling hopeless, alone, or disconnected from loved ones—but a broken relationship can be healed. This book is for family members and friends, for spouses, caregivers, and those who simply care. It outlines a path to a life with dementia that includes more life and less illness. With imagination, compassion, empathy, and quiet humor, the real-life stories in Dementia Together show you how to build a healthy dementia relationship. Because there are ways to communicate that result in greater capacity to receive as well as to provide both warm connection and practical collaboration. Living with dementia gives everyone an opportunity to grow their hearts bigger. This book shows you how.

Author Biography

Pati Bielak-Smith first witnessed the power of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) to repair and deepen relationships in 2006. Following intensive NVC training in the United Kingdom and in Poland, her motherland, she became a certified trainer with the international Center for Nonviolent Communication in 2014. While studying NVC, she spent five years as a private caregiver for people with dementia who lived alone in their homes. Caregiving gave Pati the opportunity to see firsthand how the principles of NVC can be used to support everyone living with dementia. Pati has trained caregivers and supported family members to connect to people living with dementia and, as a Dementia Champion with the Alzheimer's Society, has facilitated dementia information sessions for the community. She has also worked as a meditation teacher and as a communication consultant and trainer for organizations both large and small. Pati has a master's degree in philosophy and a postgraduate Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. She is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and currently offers one-on-one therapy sessions online or in person through her private practice, which specializes in bringing together NVC and person-centered therapy. Pati lives with her husband in Wales, United Kingdom, where together they devote their personal life to the practice of meditation. For more information, visit www.dementiatogether.info.